Is the UK channel finally moving the needle on gender pay? The data suggests it might be….
CRN analysis of 46 IT solutions providers' pay gap reports suggests industry has made modest headway since original reporting date in 2018
The full version of this article can be viewed by CRN Essential subscribers here
After Covid let companies off the hook in 2020 and 2021, all eyes were on this month's gender pay data for signs that the technology channel has finally made headway on gender pay and imbalance.
According to CRN Essential analysis of 46 IT solutions providers, the answer is a qualified ‘yes', with the mean pay gap in our sector shrinking from an average of 24.4 to 22.2 over the last four years, and average female staff ratios rising from 27.6 to 29.1 per cent.
Five years of data
It's been four years since all large UK companies were first compelled to divulge how much less (or in rare cases) more female staff are paid than their male counterparts.
As explored by CRN in previous years (see here, here and here), the gender pay gap in the IT channel - where highly paid senior management, technical and commissioned sales roles lean heavily towards men - is more pronounced than many industries.
By forcing firms with 250 or more staff to publicly divulge their gender pay, it was hoped that the introduction of the Gender Pay Gap legislation in 2017 would be a catalyst for historic change when it comes to gender equality and diversity in this industry and others.
With up to five years of pay gap reports now filed, CRN has returned to the data to analyse what progress - if any - IT solutions providers have made since 2018, looking both at female-male staff ratios and gender pay.
Eligible companies had until 4 April 2022 to submit their figures for this year, which relate to a ‘snapshot' of their business 12 months earlier (ie 5 April 2021).
The verdict is in
In 2020, the government relaxed obligatory pay gap reporting rules to give eligible firms more "breathing space" during the pandemic (around half of the companies of our sector took advantage of the loophole - to the consternation of some), while last year's reporting deadline was pushed back from April to October for the same reason.
This means it's been three years since CRN last analysed a full complement of data.
In their initial gender pay gap reports, many companies in our sector stressed that it would take time for the initiatives they'd introduced to tackle the structural imbalances within their businesses to kick in.
So, what progress - if any - has the industry made since 2017?
Of the 46 eligible IT solution providers on which CRN located data, just over a half - 24 - have submitted pay gap reports since 2018 (although sometimes with a Covid-related hiatus in 2020).
In an encouraging development, those 24 companies taken together have made modest headway on both their gender pay gaps and gender balance over the last four years.
The full analysis can be read here by subscribers to CRN Essential only